After settling for silver in the consolation final at last year’s Tribune Girls Basketball Tournament and in the championship game at last week’s Standard tournament in St. Catharines, the Centennial Cougars are no longer content to finish second. They came into the season with the goal of finally beating three formidable foes — A.N. Myer, Governor Simcoe and St. Francis — and returning to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships, this time supplanting St. Francis as the region’s double A representative.

Centennial is well on its way to achieving those goals. Before falling short to St. Francis in the gold medal game at the Standard tournament, the Cougars defeated Myer and Simcoe in preliminary-round action.

Settling old scores with St. Francis could come as early as Saturday night if Bridget Atkinson gets her way. That’s when the championship at the ninth Tribune Girls Basketball Tournament will be decided at Niagara College, and that’s where the second-year senior athlete “fully expects” to be, with or without the Phoenix as the opposing team at the other end of the court.

“I’d be disappointed if we didn’t show up with our best game, but we are going to be there,” the Grade 11 student stated matter-of-factly after the Cougars defeated E.L. Crossley 50-21 in a championship quarter-final Thursday at Centennial.

Atkinson, who was selected to the all-star team at the Standard tournament, said the double A Cougars have made a point of competing against triple and quad A schools to prepare themselves for a deep playoff run.

“Our whole team has been working hard for this opportunity. We are getting better, and playing against top teams certainly helps.”

Centennial, which tipped off the three-day, 16-team tournament with a 55-6 victory over Eastdale on Wednesday and will face Jean Vanier in the semifinals, never trailed the Crossley Cyclone and never looked back after taking a 27-9 lead into the second half.

Their 50 points against Crossley was more indicative of patience on offence rather than the Cyclone forcing the Cougars to rush their shots.

Centennial coach Phil Mosley suggested sticking to the game plan by swinging the ball should leave the Cougars in good stead, regardless of who they play in this tournament and throughout the season.

“When you’re playing high-calibre teams you have to believe in the system that got you here in the first place,” said Mosley, who is helping Kelly Spiers coach the girls team after leading the Centennial boys to a Tribune tournament in January.

Thursday’s loss leaves Crossley among the earliest casualties at this week’s tournament. While the Cyclone won the consolation final at the Standard tournament, they were no match for a Cougars defence that didn’t allow many second-shot opportunities.

“I thought we would have had a stronger game today and kept the score closer, but we didn’t pull up our socks,” Sierra Witte, Crossley’s player of the game, said in giving Centennial credit for the whistle-to-whistle win.

“They played really well, their players are well-trained,” the first-year senior said.